Main description:

The Philosophy of Practical Affairs: An Introduction addresses the problems of everyday life, problems that from time to time fate drops on normal twenty-first-century western individuals. Addressing both students and philosophers, Joseph Agassi considers the usefulness of the treatment of daily problems within academic philosophy, including rationalism and fundamental issues of practical wisdom, the community, and the individual's relationship to community. Unlike most philosophy-of-life literatures from pop-philosophy-especially religious homilies or wisdom literature, including the (pseudo-)cabbalist or (pseudo-)Buddhist, and their like-the book acknowledges real, disturbing situations. Warning the reader against various kinds of intellectual dishonesty, and committed to their rational autonomy, the author thinks through philosophical concepts that are in the end practical issues of philosophy of life.

Contents:

Part 1: Background

Chapter 1: Universalism: The Siblinghood of Humanity

Chapter 2: Universalism versus Particularism

Chapter 3: Background to Radicalism

Chapter 4: Gradualism and Pluralism

Chapter 5: Magic and Science

Part 2: The Revolt against Reason

Chapter 6: The Problem of Rationality

Chapter 7: Theories of Rationality

Chapter 8: The Flotsam and Jetsam of Philosophy

Chapter 9: The Romantic Idea of Reason

Part 3: The New Enlightenment

Chapter 10: Minimal Standards in Ethics

Chapter 11: Minimal Standards in Politics

Chapter 12: Minimal Standards in Science

Chapter 13: Optimism as an Imperative

Chapter 14: Democracy as Optimism

Conclusion: Autonomous People in Free Society